# Dopers 40-ish and over: is your bladder a lot less patient than it used to be?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 21, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439 "2009-11-21T19:52:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/1 "2009-11-21T19:52:40Z")
Just something I’ve wondered.
I turn 43 in a few days. Up until sometime in my late 30s or so I could hit the snooze alarm on my bladder as often as needed within reason without any real problem. From the time my sensory butler first presented me with the “I could pee if an opportunity should an opportunity present itself now or in the near future” carte de visite from my bladder I could almost always safely wait until a convenient break- at least until after a meeting adjourned or a class broke- 30 minutes or an hour, no problemo. Today from that first notice to “gimme a Gatorade bottle or point me to a corner, don’t care which, but _ **NOWWWW!** _” I’ve usually got 5-10 minutes, with 10 minutes being _tops_. I’m not incontinent (save for a really embarassing bad judgment call in Atlanta rush hour traffic jam last year when I couldn’t pull over for almost an hour- damn- just the memory makes me blush\*\*) but I do know that even if I’m in an important meeting or teaching a class to go ahead and make exit to make water as soon as possible without waiting for someone also to call break.
I haven’t had any major fluctuation in weight, diet, blood sugar, or anything else healthwise and I have a prostate check with my yearly exam- nothing unusual. My doctor didn’t seem particularly concerned over it but then he’s rarely concerned over much of anything save his co-pay (not an especial favorite person of mine, he). So I’m wondering if this is one of those things like my recent _@(#$8@ing bifocal prescription_ that says “welcome to middle age” or an “it happens to all men sometimes, don’t worry… it’ll be better next time” matter or if its something I should have checked. I’d also be curious to learn if women have more of an “It’s time to go… now” experience when they reach “a certain age”. (I know they do during pregnancy of course, but I’m talking when not expecting.)
Thanks for any input on your outgo.
\*I cannot get used to the mothers. I’ve had them for a month and it’s still like a mescaline trip; I’m currently wearing my old prescription.
\*\*Today I drain the lizard before getting into traffic and or take a Gatorade [or other widemouthed] bottle as a precaution before going through a city of any size.
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### Author:  [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/2 "2009-11-21T22:17:58Z")
Well, being a guy, you’re lucky you have the _option_ of a Gatorade bottle! We women don’t have that luxury!
I just turned 48, and yes, in the past five years or so, my bladder is _decidedly_ less patient than it used to be. Prior to my early 40’s, with the exception of during pregnancy, I could typically sleep clear through the night; yeah, I’d wake up having to pee, but I could get through the night. Now? It’s a good night when I only have to get up _once_. And when I get that urge, waiting is _not_ an option! I’m either getting up to pee _right now_ or I’m getting up to change my sheets in less than 15 minutes.
For travel, I take _every_ opportunity I can. Even if I feel like I don’t have to go, I go anyway, because you just never know when the urge could hit when there’s no opportunity!
But, as my Daddy used to say: “Gettin’ old ain’t so bad, when you consider the alternatives”. 😉
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/3 "2009-11-21T22:24:11Z")
Sampiro, I’d say I’m about like you, and have been a few years. Now at 52.
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### Author:  [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/4 "2009-11-21T22:24:33Z")
I’m 47, and I can’t say my bladder is less patient, although I do find myself getting up to pee most nights. My bowels, however, are a different story. Like Sampiro, my eyes are going, too – I got my first bifocals at 43, and just got a new set with stronger near vision correction. Since turning 40, I’ve also had:
[ul]
[li]3 crowns[/li][li]angioplasty/cardiac stent[/li][li]surgery for a torn labrum[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/5 "2009-11-21T22:27:52Z")
Although I haven’t been rigorously keeping track, it seems like I have significantly _fewer_ gotta-go-now moments then I used to. That could be because I’ve gotten better at preemptive peeing though.
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/6 "2009-11-21T22:54:48Z")
I’m over 40, female, and HELL YES my bladder nags at me morning, noon, and night. It wakes me up at dawn, disrupting my sleep (and once I’m up, I’m up, I can’t go back to sleep). It forces me into public restrooms when I’m out and about (and I used to be able to ‘hold it’ until I got home). I do drink an awful lot of coffee in the morning, which is 95% of the problem, but even later in the day after I drink a cup of tea, a bottle of water - in half an hour I have to go or die. … I think of my plumbing being like an old dishwasher or washing machine - starts out all shiny and new, but hard use over the years and the old pipes and tubes start to deteriorate.
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/7 "2009-11-21T23:06:59Z")
I am way, way over 40, and I don’t notice a difference. I noticed a definite difference during my pregnancies, but it all went back to normal after birth, and has remained so.
Although I will say, my whole life I have found it to be a good idea, just as a precaution, to pee _before_ (a) jumping (b) playing hide-and-seek and © sex (obvious I was a bit older when this last one came up)
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/8 "2009-11-21T23:33:12Z")
I’m 69 and I think I actually urinate less frequently than in the past. I usually wake up once every night for a bathroom break, but it happens shortly before I would normally wake up so I don’t regard it as a problem.
I’ve cut way back on coffee, though----I’m down to one cup a day but I still drink way too much Coke and not enough water.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/9 "2009-11-21T23:37:26Z")
I am 66 and sleep through the night. I do not have a problem with that at all. The only time I go at night is when my beagles want to go out. Then I figure I am up, I may as well.
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### Author:  [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/10 "2009-11-21T23:44:31Z")
> [@salinqmind](#):
>
> I’m over 40, female, and HELL YES my bladder nags at me morning, noon, and night. It wakes me up at dawn, disrupting my sleep (and once I’m up, I’m up, I can’t go back to sleep). It forces me into public restrooms when I’m out and about (and I used to be able to ‘hold it’ until I got home). I do drink an awful lot of coffee in the morning, which is 95% of the problem
I _will_ go so far as to speculate that at least part of my problem is the enormous amount of fluids I take in over the course of any given day. My morning starts with a big glass of ice water, followed by two _large_ mugs of coffee; about a half-hour after my coffee, more ice water. This is followed by an assortment of diet sodas/Crystal Light/diet iced tea throughout the day. Dinner is accompanied by one or two glasses of wine, and just before bed time is time for a nice cup of hot chocolate.
Of course, I drink this much because I’ve had sucky kidneys since I was 15 (well, sucky kidney, singular, now, 'cuz the right one sucked so much they finally yanked it) and after my first kidney stone, my doc told me “drink; seriously; all the time”, and I do. I even take a can of diet iced tea to bed with me, and when I’m up during the night to pee, I drink!
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/11 "2009-11-22T01:00:36Z")
52 here. I don’t normally get up to pee at night but I have noticed that the time between the first feeling that I might have to go and the point where I am in dire need to go immediately is getting shorter. It seems as if my bladder is becoming less elastic.
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### Author:  [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/12 "2009-11-22T01:00:48Z")
I’m 43 and I haven’t noticed any particular difference. I’ve always had something special, bladder-wise, and could go for noticably long stretches without needing to piddle, even when I was pregnant. Obviously, I am filled with a quiet pride in my superior ability. Ask me about my other talent, tying knots in cherry stems in my mouth!
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### Author:  [@Harry1945](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry1945)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/13 "2009-11-22T01:49:14Z")
Just wait until your bladder starts thinkin’ “Hell, he’s sleeping so good, I won’t bother to wake him up…I’ll find my own way…”
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/14 "2009-11-22T03:54:43Z")
For a lot of us boomer guys, a lot of these changes are prostate-related.
Who among us can still take the bark off a tree with their stream?
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/15 "2009-11-22T07:22:27Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Who among us can still take the bark off a tree with their stream?
Only if the bark is older too.
Yes, it’s changed, but it mostly has to do with caffeine. And another thing: I’m diabetic, and am at higher-than-average risk for kidney problems. My doctor has advised me to urinate as soon as I feel the urge, so I wind up doing it more often.
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### Author:  [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/16 "2009-11-22T08:21:31Z")
Female, 43. I have to pee at least once a night and anytime I get up from a sitting or lying-down position. Also, this thread is making me have to pee.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/17 "2009-11-22T09:08:59Z")
Make sure you look at your meds, some of them have diuretics in them as well, especially high blood pressure meds.
That could contribute to it.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/18 "2009-11-22T11:44:51Z")
I’m female and apparently managed to inherit my paternal grandmother’s bladder. I can sit down for hours without any discomfort, but the moment I change position IhavetogoNOW. That part’s old news, though.
But in the last year or so (I’m 41) I’ve started needing to get up once a night to pee and drink. Sucks, except I’ve become quite adept at not really waking up and being asleep again within five minutes of achieving verticality.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/19 "2009-11-22T14:52:08Z")
Combine it with having your kids late in life, and you have a sudden understanding of why they sell diapers for grownups.
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-40-ish-and-over-is-your-bladder-a-lot-less-patient-than-it-used-to-be/518439/20 "2009-11-22T14:59:10Z")
I’ll be 50 in February, and the only change I’ve noticed is medication-related. Since I’ve been taking the high blood pressure med, I get up once during the night to pee.
I agree with you on the bifocals. I tried to drive home with my first pair on and jeez louise ! I couldn’t see a thing.
(female)
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